Tropic Thunder: 10 Things I Liked, 5 I Didn’t

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 18, 2008

After battling controversy and The Dark Knight, Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder managed to shoot its way to the top of the box office this weekend. If you worked your way into the theaters, you probably found a lot to laugh about and very nearly pissed your pants suit. But the column says I didn’t like 5 things about this movie, so lets get down to it.

**SPOILERS**

10 Things I Liked

10. The Soundtrack. There are very few movies I’ll watch and immediately think “Man, I want this soundtrack,” but Tropic Thunder is one of them. There are some great songs in this movie.

9. Booty Sweat. Not just a funny commercial at the beginning of the trailer, I actually drank some Booty Juice, which is on sale now, and it tastes good. Way better than that horse piss Red Bull.

8. Tropic Thunder. The movie within a movie looked like it would have been an awesome war movie. Sign me up.

7. Cinematography. The movie looked great thanks to Academy Award winner John Toll, but really the seriousness with which this satire was approached with made it a great experience.

6. Danny McBride. This guy was fucking hilarious and had some of the best lines of this very quotable movie.

5. The Action. Forget that this was a comedy for a second, the action scenes were amped up. Give Ben Stiller a job directing a real war movie, the gunfights were sick.

4. Screw Hollywood. Hollywood was due for a good ribbing and this movie hit all the points you want to see, from douche agents and producers to bitchy and ridiculous actors, they all got what they deserved.

3. The Supporting Cast. Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise, Mother Fucking Nick Nolte, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Steve Coogan. What more do you want? Lance Bass? You got him. Great cameos, great cast.

2. Tom Cruise Busts a Move. I loved Tom Cruise’s appearance. His moves were tight, the character costuming was awesome. I love this guy!

1. Robert Downey Jr. Was there ever any doubt? He really knocks it out of the ballpark and proves that he’s hilarious. RDJ is on top of the world and Tropic Thunder is him planting his comedy flag. Ton of quotable lines make this an easy number one. I’m a lead farmer, mother fucker!

5 Things I Didn’t

5. Not Enough Coogan. Coogan is comedy gold. I wished I could have had a few more minutes with him.

4. Mumbling. I’m going to have to watch this film again to catch all the dialog. Between Downey and McBride, I feel like I missed a lot of funny lines. Diction, baby, diction!

3. Pacing. A few scenes felt like they went just a little too long. Perhaps the long leash of Stiller’s directing style let a tad too much improv push some scenes long.

2. Jack Black Lacks. Jack Black is a funny mother. In this film, I feel like he really wasn’t given anything to do for the first 90 minutes. At the end he really knocked out a lot of funny moments, some of the best of the film, but he was definitely under utilized through most of the film.

1. No Ladies. Honestly, I didn’t even notice until after the film, but there really aren’t any women in here. It doesn’t distract from the movie and it’s negative only in the fact that I love looking at hot women and I didn’t get any.

There you go. I really enjoyed Tropic Thunder and if you haven’t seen it, you should take a look. The negatives aren’t only negative and it’s really just a fun flick that’ll keep you laughing literally from start to finish. This movie, ironically, more than any other recently (since at least Iron Man), reminded me that movies are fucking awesome. Hell, I’d see Rain of Madness in theaters!

Read more articles by Robert Fure